Sunday, November 28, 2004
Singapore Trip-Full narration with pics!
After two consecutive nights of sheer madness (i.e. working non-stop from 8a.m. to 11p.m.) I was “handsomely” rewarded with an all expenses paid official duty trip to Singapore. For 3 days.Sorry I can’t elaborate on the work done, but I can share with you more interesting stuff, i.e.the hotel I stayed in, how I managed to squeeze in 2 hours of brisk walking along the Esplanade, Empress Place and one and a half hours’ instant shopping at Takashimaya Shopping Centre, Orchard Road.
I arrived at Singapore at around 7pm, no thanks to “efficient” MAS who kept us in suspense by announcing that our flight was delayed for an hour and then ushering us to board the flight within the next 5 minutes! Well thank goodness it was Airbus 300 so the journey was reasonably comfortable.
Upon arrival me and my colleague were greeted by our designated driver who of course, tried hard to impress us with his Singaporean hospitality. Well his car was impressive anyway. Mercedes Benz Kompressor E200. Very nice, I thought to myself… a nice car for a change.
Upon checking in at the Fullerton Hotel, we immediately had a quick change of clothes and were whisked away to another hotel for dinner. The name of the restaurant is Mortons I think. Mortons steak house. The Bengali waiter entertained us with his heavy Indian accent while he gave a short presentation on what food was served. Well basically if you are a meat lover, you’ll love Mortons. They serve steaks in portions large enough for three hungry men! I chose salmon instead because I wasn’t too keen on the meat…
Work began almost immediately after the heavy meal. Small group discussions began at around 11.30pm which lasted until 12.45am. (Horror of horrors look) Went to bed at around 2am.
I will spare you the details of what I did the next day because it was mainly work and nothing else. Ahha… when it came to the afternoon, I was not required to attend the meeting and I quickly took the opportunity to walk around the area of Fullerton hotel.
A few quick facts on Fullerton Hotel. This Victorian style building was originally a Post Office building for more than a century. It was renovated and reopened in 2001 as one of the poshest hotels in Singapore. Basically… everything is expensive in the hotel. As you will see from the pictures that follow… a 1 L bottle of Evian water costs $12, internet access at the business centre costs $10 per 15 minutes, room rates start at $300-$400, etc… definitely not a place I would consider staying in if I am paying out of my own pocket! Hahaha…
This is the main entrance of Fullerton Hotel. Note the revolving door at the back… it has a sensor and starts revolving automatically when you approach it. Just don’t trap yourself between the glass doors 
I digress… now, let me show you where I went during the limited 2 hours of leisure time that I had. Firstly, I walked across the Cavenagh Bridge. There were decorations being made for a garden wedding. This is the picture of the bridge. You can see some waiters decorating the bridge with tables wrapped in luxurious white material.
Hmmm… I wouldn’t mind a garden wedding myself, provided the weather is not too hot!
You can see the Anderson bridge on your left as you walk through Cavenagh Bridge into Empress Place. Anderson bridge is open to vehicles and pedestrians.
This is the Anderson Bridge.
Next I walked into Empress Place where the parks are very well maintained, with pedestrian walks and lush greenery. Everybody is so relaxed and suddenly it reminds me of England in summertime. The Victorian Theatre is located nearby, so is the Asian Civilisation Museum as well as the Museum Shop. All three buildings are of Victorian Architecture, which creates a very quaint atmosphere. Perfect for an afternoon stroll.
This is the front view of the Victorian Theatre with a statute of Sir Stamford Raffles.
I took the underground walkway and walked towards the Esplanade-Theatres on the Bay.
This is the view of the two theatres from a distance. Rather unique don’t you think? Some people associate it with durian shells.
The last time I visited the Theatres on the bay, the rooftop garden was closed. Therefore this time round, I had the opportunity to visit the rooftop garden.
This is the picture of the rooftop of the theatre.
You can see the Merlion and the Fullerton Hotel from a distance. I managed to get a picture with the Merlion.
Isnt she magnificent? There’s actually a smaller merlion at the back… but I did not bother taking a picture of it since I had the big one!
After taking a picture with the Merlion, I went inside the Fullerton Souvenir shop and bought some key chains… all with the merlion on it.
I decided to explore Empress Place later and entered the Victorian Theatre. There was an afternoon concert going on… I could hear the orchestra playing. Unfortunately all tickets were sold out and therefore I could not enter the theatre hall. What a pity. Would have loved to attend a concert… away from work, even for a few hours.
The Asian Civilisation Museum was next to the Victorian Musuem. They were having a Turkish treasures exhibition. Admission costs $7 so being “lokek” I decided to forgo the exhibition and went inside the Museum shop instead. The shop does have an impressive collection of ceramic ware, paintings, clothing and other ancient artifacts but nothing in particular which suggests that it is a museum… which is kind of strange really. Did not buy anything because well, nothing caught my eye really. And photography was prohibited so sorry guys, no pictures of the goods in the museum shop.
On Saturday my colleague and myself managed to go to Takashimaya at Orchard Road for some last minute shopping before we left for the airport.
This is the one and only picture of me at Takashimaya! The Christmas decorations are really lovely… I heard that the whole of Orchard Road is brightly lit at night. Too bad I did not have the opportunity to see it… I came to Singapore in Dec 2002 and I remember how beautiful the streets were…
And basically… that ends my trip to Singapore. Very tired but still happy.
Ciao!
Anyway… after all that typing, I think I will let the pictures do some talking… here are the pics of the hotel room and goodies… have a look. 
The luxurious bathroom with a separate shower cubicle. In case you were wondering… yes, I bagged all the toiletries.:P
Something I discovered when exploring my room! A full set of liquor, including Jim Bean, Jack Daniels and ors… complete with coasters, napkins and wine glasses.
The bed that costs $50 everytime you change your sleeping position. That’s how I view it anyway. Bed linens were ok… the bed was a tad too tall for my liking. I had to climb onto it. Literally.
An overview of the room.
Very important…especially when you don’t want to spend an exorbitant amount of money at the hotel restaurant.
The most expensive mineral water in Singapore-$12.00.
This is the front view of Fullerton Hotel.
This is the back view of Fullerton Hotel. The swimming pool is located at the open area in the middle section of the building.
Thats it folks!
by miracle8 at 09:59 pm
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Wednesday, November 17, 2004
More pictures from the Terra Cotta exhibition
I told you I was going to go to the exhibition again… and I did! I went on Friday evening with my dad and we were totally amazed (yes, again) by the artifacts. I took a total of 86 pictures, but will spare you the time and energy of looking at each and every one of them. Here are a few significant ones. Enjoy!
This is the panoramic view of Pit No.1 of the Terra Cotta Warriors and Chariots.
This is the picture of Qin Shi Huang (or Shi Huang Di- meaning first emperor).
The man who made history by discovering the terra cotta warriors-Mr Yang Tze Fa in 1974 relating his amazing discovery.
A diagram showing the various types of armour worn by the terra cotta warriors.
An illustration of Qin Shi Huang’s tomb based on , a historical documentary painstakingly recorded and written by Si Ma Qian. You can refer to my earlier post for a brief description of this picture.
The many hairstyles of the terra cotta warriors.
The Eight basic face shapes of the terra cotta warriors. Note that every warrior has a different expression.
A panoramic view of the “Markas” or Pit No. 3. Thats all for the time being folks! Enjoy!
by miracle8 at 09:48 pm
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Indigestion and irritating secondary school kids
Hari Raya visits and all that curry has taken its toll on my stomach and today I am officially down with indigestion… I leave the rest to your imagination. I think even the toilet bowl wants to find a place to hide. Anyway I digress. My family and I were given free tickets to see a concert organised by the Kuching Oriental Chinese Orchestra. Top performers from China were invited as guest performers.Too lazy to list out all the names of the performers… I’m not paid to publicise them anyway. On overall the concert was ok, although I do think that the organisers could arrange the order of the programmes in such a way that the backstage workers do not have to run around the stage getting the seating arrangements right. The stage does not have a stage curtain where all the “action” and scurrying around of assistants with chairs, microphones, etc are safely hidden behind the curtains. Therefore half the time we were “entertained” by the workers running around carrying the heavy chinese musical instruments, positioning the microphones, etc. etc… which was, frankly speaking not very impressive.
I was very annoyed by the ignorance of the audiences, especially the secondary school kids who screamed nonchalantly and made wolf whistles during the performance. This is supposed to be a serious and solemn concert, mind you, not a Michael Jackson world tour. I find it an insult to the performers. And the audiences always clapped their hands at the wrong time. Arrgghhhh! They should pay more attention to the facial expressions and body language of the performers, for goodness sake. A pause during the performance is not unusual. What is wrong with these people. Aiya. The quality of the audience is really terrible… I wonder if they could really appreciate the performance.
And one more thing… being a hardcore Chinese satellite tv fan, I could not help but feel that the chinese solo performers were not performing up to standard… perhaps its because they are still trying to recover from jet lag or something? I know I know.. I should not be such a critic but I can’t help but feel that these chinese performers feel that its ok to deliver below par because we country pumpkins may not know the difference whether it is an “A” grade performance or a “B” grade performance anyway. I feel strongly that you need to be a perfectionist when you perform, because you are setting a precedent for young aspiring musicians who may take after your performing techniques. I know for one that the composer of the song six feet under would be outraged if he/she heard a less acceptable interpretation of his/her music works. You not only have to respect your audience but also the original composer of the song as well. You need to look behind the intention of the composer and what message he/she intends to relay through the music. Your imagination will come into play and you need to incorporate your technical skills and your body language to give life into the music that you are playing. At least I think so anyway.
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Mandarin conversant “Ang Mos”
I saw an Englishman serving as a master of ceremony in a tv programme in CCTV-4 (Chinese Central Television Channel). And he spoke perfect Mandarin. Wow. Not sure if you realised this… Foreigners take it for granted that Asians are proficient in English, French, Spanish and any other language for that matter.. but when we see a foreigner conversing fluently in Mandarin, its like seeing the 9th or 10th wonder of the world! When I was in university one of the English students staying in the same residence hall as I did confessed that English people are too lazy to pick up another language because they already know the world’s most widely used language! However, with China steadily growing into the next superpower of the world, it is understandable that everybody wants to hop on the big Chinese bandwagon and grab a piece of “Chinese pie” before they are left behind.During my Bar course, one of my coursemates, an American, used to speak to me and my Malaysian classmates in Mandarin. Not very fluently, mind you but I respected him for making the effort. And of course the east asian students from Pakistan, Bangladesh were only too interested to know what we were talking whenever the Malaysian gang was having a “summit” conference among ourselves… usually it would be a “rojak” conversation consisting of Cantonese, Hokkien, a bit of Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia and very little English. Ah… the beauty of being a Malaysian… you speak so many languages, you confuse yourself.
In 1996 when I went to Wuxi, China to participate in a summer camp I met an Australian lecturer who spoke fluent Mandarin to us. I will always remember his advice to us: ” Be proud of your language and your roots…you must be a dignified member of your race.” A common misconception among the Chinese during that time was that Malaysian Chinese were Mandarin illiterate. It was rather hilarious actually… because all foreign students were assigned a “family” each, who were the local residents in the city. So they came up to each of us, armed with dictionaries and started talking to us in English… for fear that we would not understand Mandarin. The moment I spoke to my host family, they were immediately relieved. It was a good experience. Malaysia is one of the countries outside China where all ethnic groups are free to learn their mother tongues without restrictions from the government. And we should be grateful for that. I remember reading an article which conveyed the message that the easiest way to wipe out a particular race is to deprive them of learning their mother tongue and eradicate all traces of their culture. The Indonesian chinese community would be a good example. Totally deprived of their rights and access to their language and culture during the reign of President Suharto, Indonesian chinese adopted Indonesian names and the only chinese character they know how to read would be their own chinese names.
Therefore, I was thinking, we should be proud that the foreigners are learning Mandarin and the next time we see a foreigner, we should speak to them in Mandarin. Just like the French who are so proud of their language, there is no reason why we should not be proud of our own language. Right? Haha… what a turn of tables it will be.
Ming Bai Ma? (Do you understand?) hahahaha
by miracle8 at 09:34 pm
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Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Back to the Qin Dynasty and the Terra Cotta warriors
” If you have not seen the pyramids, it is like one has never been to Egypt.The same as, if you have not seen the Qin Terra Cottas, you have not been to China.” (Former French Premier- President Shirac, in 1978)Today I saw for myself the 8th wonder of the world. Well almost, anyway. TCL Acroarts Sdn Bhd organized an exhibition of the 8th wonder of the world- The Qin Terra Cotta Warriors. One must research and digest the history behind these magnificent creations in order to fully appreciate the intricate designs of the terra cotta warriors. It is a story of the strongest dynasty in Chinese history.
Right, a few brief facts before I provide a commentary on my visit to the exhibition which is currently held at the prescint of Chung Hua Middle School No. 1, Kuching.
Achievements of Qin Shi Huang
1. The Great Wall of China
2. Terra-Cotta Armies and Horses
3. Palace in China
4. Mausoleum (Burial ground of the Emperor)
5. Road System
6. Standardised Writing
7. Standardised Currency
8. Standardised Weight and Measurement
9. Standardised Horse Carriage
10.Standardised Law
11.Centralised Government
When and how the Qin Terra Cotta Warriors were discovered
The Qin Terra Cotta Warriors were discovered by a farmer by the name of Yang Zhi Fa on 29th March 1974 in Shaanxi Province, Xi’an City, PRC. The farmers were undergoing a difficult period of draught and Yang, among the farmers decided to dig a well to facilitate irrigation of their crops. What was initiated as a life-saving measure turned out to be an unexpected discovery of one of the world’s greatest wonders.
The Qin Terra Cotta Warriors and the tomb of Qin Shi Huang has been described as the biggest archeological finding in 20th century. It is the largest and grandiest burial from all Chinese Dynasties. There are three pits in total which have been excavated to date. The excavations have resulted in the discovery of nearly 8000 warriors, 200 chariots and 466 saddle horses. The main excavations were carried out in March 1974, April 1976 and May 1976 respectively.
The first pit is the largest of all three pits, boasting a size of 2 football fields. The second pit is L-shaped. The third pit is “U”-shaped, which is also described as the command centre or the “Markas” of the pits.
Archaeologists are of the opinion that it was perhaps never Qin Shi Huang’s intention for these terra cotta warriors, chariots and saddle horses etc to see the light of day from the day they were buried. The reason simply being, these treasures were hidden under wooden logs which were then covered by 5 feet of ” wu hua” soil (I apologise, I do not know the proper term for this particular soil) and on the top layer is one feet of soil suitable for agriculture cultivation. In fact, there has been no historical records of the existence of these terra cotta statutes, which explained the long delay between the date of burial of these treasures and the date of discovery. Even at present, archaeologists are still in the process of excavating the area. There is still much left to the imagination. Although one thing for sure, we can be proud of our ancestral roots.
Qin Shi Huang started his major project of the terra cotta warriors when he was in his third year of reign. He was only 49 years old when he passed away. Had he lived a longer life, we could have seen more miracles and wonders of the world I reckon.
Of course there is a group which chooses to think that Qin Shi Huang was evil in his quest for immortality and never ending desire for power. It is not denied that many of his subjects were forced into slavery and tortured to death during the course of his reign. However it was during his reign that the Great Wall of China was built. It was also during his reign that the Chinese characters were unified. We need to acknowledge his achievements which changed the history of China. He was an ambitious man and he achieved his goals.
The organisers of the exhibition put a lot of effort into the commentaries and the historical background of the terra cotta artifacts. Therefore I took the time to read each and every commentary on the walls, from the history of Qin Dynasty to the discovery of the artifacts. It was indeed an educational and enlightening experience.
I was particularly interested in the description of the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. For your information, China currently does not have the technology to excavate the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. Therefore the description which was provided to the visitors were largely based on the book written by a famous Chinese history researcher, Si Ma Qian. In his book, he gave a lenghty description of the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. Bearing in mind that everything is underground, use your imagination to picture the sights of the tomb. I will post a drawing of it later when I get the picture taken. Right.. for your info, my digicam died on me because I forgot to take extra batteries with me. Duh! Never mind. I will definitely go to the exhibition again…
Here goes. On the ceiling of the tomb, you can see sculptures of stars and the sun. This represents the world where the emperor will be living in in his afterlife. His tomb faces an easterly position because this is his best direction. On the north is an arch which is intricately decorated to represent the palace. The body of the emperor is covered in golden scales woven together. This would look like the mummies in Egypt. The body is protected by two layers of stone walls made to look like a coffin. On the right of the body the topography is made to resemble the vast area of China acquired by the emperor during his reign. There is also a river formed within the topography with hydrargyrum (Hg) or mercury, in the place of water. Now you may be sceptical of the description of Si Ma Qian, but a recent report showed that the soil in the area where the tomb of Qin Shi Huang is supposed to be has been found to contain high levels of Hg. Interesting? I suppose, if what is described in Si Ma Qian’s book is correct, the Chinese would presumably want to preserve the conditions of the tomb as it is and great care and planning would have to be made should the area be excavated. Remember earlier when I mentioned that the artifacts were first discovered in 1974? It wasn’t until 1981 when the archeologists finally restored the artifacts in their original form. What you see now in the internet and the television are works of thousands of archeologists, making sense of the rubble and the different body parts of the terra cotta warriors, chariots and horses, because when they were first excavated, they were not in their full original form. Great care had to be taken to “reassemble” the different parts.
Which makes me appreciate them a lot more.
Into the main exhibition hall I come. You can see the pictures I have taken of the exhibited artifacts. For your information, during the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, each family was assigned a task to build one warrior. Failure to exercise a high skill of workmanship would cost the sculptor both his life and the lives of his families. Therefore great efforts were made to ensure that the faces of the warriors were life-like and different. No two warriors have the same facial features. There are eight basic facial expressions of the warriors, with different face shapes. Even the hairstyle is given the most intricate detail. There are different types of “buns” and braids which the hair is shaped into. If you pay close enough attention, every warrior is unique in its own way. The poses of the warriors are categorized according to rank. There are senior officials, recruits and others which I cannot list down in detail. Some carry weapons in their hands and some kneel down on one knee. It is really interesting.
On overall, I found the exhibition to be a truly enriching experience. I am truly grateful that my family decided to go for the exhibition despite the big crowd. Although I think… cat city people could do the exhibition more justice by brushing up on their history knowledge in order to gain a higher level of appreciation of these magnificent treasures. One lady just took one look at the artifacts and said ” They all look the same! Are you sure its the real thing?” Oh for goodness sake. You are only paying RM15 to look at something which would cost you a few thousand bucks to fly to Shaanxi, get accommodation and trek all the way to the excavation pit. Which would not be enough if you only have two hours to spare. I did not really mind even if the exhibited items were replicas. It would only seem more logical. To transport such priceless items to another country and risk them being stolen.. I don’t think the organisers would be so daft to put themselves under such risks. The replicas were identical to the real ones (although we were briefed by the tour guide that there were genuine ones hidden among the replicas). Its the educational experience we want. Great efforts have been made to prepare the bilingual commentaries (so yours truly does not have to scratch my head translating the commentaries, hehe), depicting the history and what not. You can see the artifacts on television and on the internet. Without the commentaries, they are just another work of art. When you have commentaries, it gives them life.
That ends my short description of my visit to the Qin Terra Cotta Warrior exhibition. Hopefully it was not too boring for you! The 8th Wonder of the World… right here in Kuching, for the next 30 days. Definitely going to go there again. Its so worth my 15 bucks.
by miracle8 at 09:46 pm
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Saturday, November 13, 2004
An unofficial tribute to Iris Chang- and then some
American Chinese writer Iris Chang committed suicide and passed away on 12 November 2004. She was only 36 years old.According to the newspaper report in International Times, Iris Chang is the author of the New York Times Bestseller-
, published in 1997. The book deals with two categories of brutal hostility, the first one being the great brutal killing of Nanking, how the Japanese wiped out hundreds and thousands of innocent chinese people during the war. This was the physical torture of the Japanese towards the chinese people. Secondly, Iris Chang revealed in her book how the Japanese attempted to wipe out this grueling part of history from the general public, thereby denying justice to the victims of the killing.
Iris Chang approached her book from three angles. Firstly, the angle of the killing from the Japanese, how the Japanese soldiers carried out their orders and their reasons for doing so. Secondly, she explored the angle of the chinese victims of the Nanking killing, the agony, helplessness and fury of being betrayed etc. THirdly, the author wrote about the reactions of the Western countries when Nanking was under attack. Some countries rendered their assistance and some chose to sit on the fence.
Statistics revealed that the total number of casualties as a result of the Nanking killing amounted to more than 350,000 people. In other words, if you laid down the corpses side by side, it would make a line stretching 200 miles.
Iris Chang pointed out that the important point was not how many people died during the Nanking Murder. The focus should be HOW they died. Innocent civilans were made victims of the Japanese soldiers’ sword practice tools, beheading them off at their pleasure. Women were raped, their breasts were cut off and the women were nailed to walls to die. Fathers were forced to rape their daughters, sons were forced to rape their mothers, and other family members were forced to witness the revolting acts. Various body parts were taken apart and barbequed. People were buried alive. The rest is just too agonizing to type here… but you get the idea.
However, the Nanking Murder is very much an avoided issue. Within China, very little is said of the incident. Most just want to get the nightmare out of their minds and get on with their lives. In Japan, they have tried for decades to completely erase this part of history from the school curiculum. They have not acknowledged their crime. Instead, they are trying to cover it up and make everybody forget about it. Which is why, it is timely that an American Chinese decided to write about it in such depth and detail. For society is cruel. A true story coming out from the victim’s mouth is never convincing enough. Had this book been written by a Chinese author of China, I do not think it would have made the New York Bestseller’s list. To an outsider, you are merely lamenting over your misfortune. However, when an overseas author gives a detailed commentary of the event, people tend to believe it is more objective and they are more likely to be convinced by the contents of the book. It is indeed remarkable that an overseas chinese young lady has the urge and passion to come out with such a masterpiece. Chinese immigrants overseas tend to be more business orientated as it is a rat race out there. The first generation of immigrants may still have vivid memories of the war and may have retold the stories to their descendants. However, as time passes, most chinese immigrants adapt to the culture of the country that they have chosen to make their new home.Their children attend school in the local community and identify themselves as an American, a British citizen etc. for that matter. As much as the older generation try to exercise their influence over their children, to remind them of their ancestral roots, most young people of the new generation choose to identify themselves with something closer to what they call “home”. For these reasons I have to concede that Iris Chang is indeed a rare gem. She was a new breed of young immigrant chinese authors who have come to realise the importance of getting in touch with her ancestral roots and bringing to light the various angles of history. Indeed, we need more authors like Iris Chang. Authors who respect history and go through all means to portray accurate account of events.
In the last chapter of her book, Iris Chang used the heading” “A second rape”. (my translation). According to her, the obstinate behaviour of the Japanese in their blatant refusal of acknowledging the crime they had committed, and showing no signs of repentance is in itself another act of crime. She quoted Elie Wiesel: ” To forget an act of murder is a second comittal of murder.” (my translation)
I am proud that an overseas chinese author was able to research in depth the history of this brutal and inhuman incident, which scarred the chinese for life. Even now. It is with great sadness that Iris Chang has chosen to end her 36 years of life. She had so much to give.
She was truly a gem. I supposed for a woman of such high calibre, she must have been a perfectionist. According to the newspapers she suffered from bouts of depression and never fully recovered from it. She put a bullet to her head… she wanted her family and friends to remember her at her best before she succumbed to depression. She leaves behind her husband and a two-year old son.
On a more serious note, I feel that I have to put in this paragraph… it has always been in my mind.
As young people of this generation, excelling in our professional fields is but a basic requirement. What we need to do is to establish our identity. What is the purpose of our existence in the society. What role have we been given to play and how well can we play that particular role, are matters which should be given adequate consideration. The most crucial thing is of course, we must identify ourselves with our race and culture. If we are of Chinese origin, we should make it an effort to understand the history of China. It is not enough to just visit your ancestral grounds in China and tell yourself that you have already identified yourself. It is only the beginning. Make use of the internet, do your research online. Read authoritative texts and commentaries of the politics of China. Keep yourself abreast of the latest developments. At an era when information is readily available at the click of a button, we should try our best to understand the history and development of our ancestral chinese roots.
Language should not be made a barrier. Famous chinese talk show host, author and history researcher, Mr. Li Ao, in one of his talk shows commented that Mandarin is not a difficult language to learn. There are many word-processing softwares for Mandarin users which provide suggestions for different terminology use. If you bypass the stage of learning to write the characters, by using the software, you would find it more enjoyable to learn. Another tip which my friend has told me (she can’t read or write Mandarin but she can speak very fluently) is to watch Chinese serials with English subtitles. Or listen to Mandarin songs. It would help a lot. For Astro users, Mr. Li Ao’s talk show, ” Li Ao You Hua Shuo” (translated as “Li Ao has something to say”) is aired over Phoenix tv every Monday to Friday, 10.30pm. He gives an objective commentary of the politics and development of China and the tense relationship between Taiwan and China. He is very humorous and supports his arguments with documentary evidence. During the 30 minute show, he gives a humourous yet tactful commentary of the attitude of the Taiwanese towards the Chinese government.. you have to watch the show to fully appreciate it. Although I am planning, provided time permitting to translate some extracts of his talks. His talk shows make you think and consider matters from a different angle.
Of course the above two paragraphs are already out of context here, but I feel it is my duty to enlighten those out there who are very much English orientated… I understand you must have your difficulties for not being able to learn the language. The environment may not be conducive and you may not have the time to learn. But at the end of the day, when you are asked to identify yourself, you need to identify yourself with a particular ethnic origin. You will eventually find inner peace.
Hmmm… if the above paragraph has offended anybody in any particular way, I apologise in advance. I do not have any intentions of aiming these thoughts at any particular person and you do not need to feel offended. It is just merely my deep thoughts and I just want to share it with all my friends, far and near.
Note: I was inspired to write this entry having read the relevant newspaper report in the International Times, Sarawak. The above is merely my personal opinion and does not represent the newspaper in any way.
by miracle8 at 09:44 pm
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Thursday, November 11, 2004
Marriage-a renewable licence?
When I was in Newcastle I came across these headlines:
“PROPOSAL FOR MARRIAGE LICENCES TO BE ISSUED” (or something like that anyway). The idea behind the proposed marriage licence was to eliminate the need for couples to file for a divorce. Basically, when you get married, both of you get a licence to prove the legality of your union as husband and wife. The licence is renewable annually. Therefore couples will renew their marriage licences upon expiry if they wish. If not, the union ceases to exist and both parties are free to remarry and enter into new licences.To the older generation, they will simply brush aside this radical school of thought by saying “Young people just don’t try hard enough to make their marriages work, this is another gimmick to try to run away from the marriage without any strings attached… ” etc.
With all due respect I beg to differ.
First point to consider: “Young people just don’t try hard enough to make their marriages work.” To a certain degree, I do agree that some people rush into getting married without taking into consideration the financial and emotional commitment involved. But weren’t these problems apparent in the older generation as well?
The reason, the marriage was kept intact, was probably because one party was not financially stable, who is usually the wife. Therefore the only choice for women of that era was to keep quiet and get on with life, even if the marriage was on the rocks.
Fast foward to our generation. Our parents invest in us, or in some circumstances, we invest in ourselves, large amounts of money to secure sound tertiary education. And most of us, upon graduation would be able to earn our dough, if not more. Therefore, the union of husband and wife does not lie on the basis of dependency. Rather, it is a union of mutual respect and a fusion of each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
There are times when you find your family members irritating. What more of someone whom you’ve only known for probably a few years?
Therefore… when arguments heat up and no amount of coaxing from the parents or in-laws can mend the shattered relationship, most young people now would not hesitate to put an end to their misery and give each other another opportunity to start a new life.
Does this mean they are not trying hard enough? I do not think so. I believe that young people nowadays have confidence in themselves to pull away from hopeless marriages and they will focus their energy on their jobs, other social activities, etc.. in short, get on with life.
Secondly, the divorce process is long and excruciatingly painful. Justice is not seen to be done in some cases.
Which is why, provided that all scenarios and circumstances are provided for in the issuance of a renewable marriage licence, I vote in favour of the marriage licence.
There are procedures which need to be eliminated. All that mediation to reconcile a couple would be worthless if the couple themselves have decided that they do not want to be associated with each other anymore.
What if, you will ask, if there are children involved?
The provisions for child custody should still remain. After all… they are innocent.
Realistically, I do not foresee any changes in the next 20 years or so. Many still view divorcees as rejects of society. How sad.
They are the strong, brave ones who were courageous enough to withdraw from a relationship which is evidently not working anymore… and they are penalised by the rules of society.
I am sure they wished they only had a renewable licence instead.
See… one of the advantages I foresee from the issuance of a marriage licence, is that couples will be able to review their relationship annually. Perhaps a questionnaire could be filled, touching on aspects of the relationship, what expectations do they have for each other, whether if the licence is renewed for another year, they are able to achieve certain goals, etc.. In short, let them sort out their issues, put in on paper, have a good look and consider whether it is worth renewing their licence for another year. Let couples remind each other annually how important their marriage is to them. Let them realise how wonderful (or how terrible it has been-and following that the licence is revoked) it has been to be married.
On the plus side, it can also generate more revenue for the government *devil smiley*
Oh ya. As for the newspaper report, I heard nothing from it again. Obviously the Parliament chose not to debate the topic.
Society rules.
by miracle8 at 10:03 pm
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Monday, November 08, 2004
More than a woman, more than a woman to me (more womanly than me too)
Ah… I am a Bee Gees fan. Do you remember their corny music video “Staying Alive?” I absolutely loved that. And the beautiful blend of perfect harmony in their songs. Can’t live without them. They are a phenomenon. They really are.Right… I digress.
Actually this blog is to give all of you out there, hot from the press, what happened during the concert cum dinner yesterday evening! Yeah… after practising for the concert for three months… the CHMS No. 3 Alumni choir gave its debut performance at the school hall. And yours truly was the piano accompanist for the night. Absolutely lovely…
First was of course the general protocol of welcoming the guests of honour, leading them to their seats, etc…
But thats not very important.. whats most important is what happened during the concert! Basically it went quite well actually. We had the full choir performing 5 songs, followed by the basses and tenors performing another 2 songs and then yours truly performed two piano solos. Name of the piano pieces? Rustle of Spring and The Maiden’s Prayer. Hehe… usually I stick to these two pieces because I know them by heart and the technical skills required are above average but not too difficult to appreciate for the average individual. Of course I keep on telling myself that I have to broaden my repertoire. But sadly… time is a factor. You need time to learn new pieces and play them to an acceptable standard… and with work cramming in, I can only stick to what I already know best.
Following that my mom performed a vocal solo (accompanied on piano by moi of course) and then we had the sopranos and altos performing two songs. Finally we ended our programme with the full choir.
I want to include the names of the songs here but I don’t quite know how to translate them from Mandarin (it would sound too corny). Anyway, at the risk of sounding corny, here goes:
1) A lifetime of peace for the good people
2) Beautiful Sunset
3) May you be blessed with peace
4) Little Grass
5) The song we know
(ok, it should be “the same song” but I thought “the song we know” sounds better)
6) Song of Friendship (performed by the basses and tenors)
7) Farewell at the Harbour (“)
8) Jasmine (performed by the ladies, sopranos and altos)
9) Dear Swallow, please bring back news of Spring (“)
And there you have it! Not a very accurate translation, mind you, but you get the idea now, right?
Ah… from the endless practice sessions, me rushing to the school music room for choir practice for the last three months, co-ordinating with my mom whose the conductor, making sure my father knew his lyrics by heart (Goodness, we’re the Von Trapp family now or what) and most important of all, making sure everybody in the choir were putting in their best efforts to make this performance a huge success.
For behind this performance we have a mission. A mission to obtain funds from the School Board to purchase a new piano. Pronto.
And you can only impress the School Board with a good performance, so that they are convinced that with a piano of better quality, we can do better.
Mission no. 2, to encourage more students to enrol in the school. Being a private school, all expenses are derived from the school fees paid by students and support from the School Board etc. We want to use the power of music to reach out to parents out there, to give them the message that the school has dreams and aspirations, etc. etc..
Good news? The School Board informed us orally that they would be getting a new piano. A good one. Pronto.
Mission accomplished.
The members of the choir all consist of alumni members who are now in their forties, fifties, sixties etc… and of course, some young ones as well. But from the performance last night, you could feel that we were performing as one. No age gaps, no boundaries, all gathered together to present the best that they have. And within the group, there are several couples. How beautiful it must be to be able to perform on stage together as husband and wife! Now how often do you get that?
Ok… enough of that. I come to the “highlight” of the evening and now you will understand the heading I have chosen for this blog.
One particular person (lets just call the person J) donated RM3000++ to the school in conjunction with the event. J donated on the condition that he/she be allowed to perform on stage last night.
Which for some reason, the organising committee agreed to. (Note the choir members, myself, my mom etc. were NOT members of the committee).
Only thing is that he/she performed after the choir had finished their programme.
Note I use he/she in my blog. Now, J was a man who successfully underwent sexual reassignment surgery and now he/she is physically a woman.
Enough of the surgery bit. What I was interested in was, whether he/she successfully changed his/her voice? Because I saw his/her Adam’s apple yonder…
Well…. he/she was very very sexy on stage. The great body, the great face, the soft silky hair… J fooled most of the male audience. And while J was moving her body provocatively on stage, flipping her hair and all, her hands running up and down her silicon boobs (oops) and all, my cousin and I saw a man in the vicinity drooling at her. Seriously. Now you know why men are attracted to ex-men. (hahahha.. no pun intended)
Until she started singing.
Its a MAN’s voice lar… So everybody, close your eyes and imagine the looks on the male audience’s faces.
Some of them were eating and immediately choked out their food. Aiiks, one man said, is this an A kua show?
I know… not a very nice ending to the evening, right?
Ahh…. she is more than a woman… more than a woman to me…
hehehhehehe… so you pervy guys out there, watch out. What you see may not be what you think it is.
p/s. For sake of clarification, I have nothing against people who have undergone sexual reassignment surgery. J, I just feel that you don’t have to put on the “over the top” ladylike act to convince people that you are a woman… I knew you when you were a man, and you have a heart of gold. You still have a heart of gold now. And nothing is going to change that.
by miracle8 at 09:43 pm
Make a miracle happen Permanent Link
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Random thought of the day
I look at kids nowadays and realise how fortunate they are. They get to go on trips with their mommies and daddies and of course, have a whale of a time. Cool.But I suppose, life has been fair so far. I have had my share of overseas education, my character moulding years away from home, my career building months at the law firm (which taught me to be smart and strong) and of course, now… as you progress further down the line, your responsibilities become heavier and you become more stressed.
But you can only grow stronger.
I only have to look back at my secondary school years away from home and thats enough to prove it. I was studying in Ipoh and my piano teacher was a Penangite. Every weekend I had to take the express bus from Ipoh to Butterworth (because it was cheaper), then take a ferry (which costs 60 cents) from Butterworth to Penang and then take another bus to my piano teacher’s house. Immediately upon arrival I would begin my piano lessons on the spot. For 2 hours. I must thank my teacher who was very very kind to accommodate me. And I would spend the night at her house, usually in her living room. And the school I was studying at, was a boarding school. I had to endure the hostel warden’s fierce interrogations every week whenever I asked for his permission to go to Penang. For some reason… he always used to think that I was up to something fishy… hmmmm.
And the only instrument that I could use in school to practice, was a clavinova which basically does not make any difference in volume whether you hit the keys hard or soft. So I used my imagination. I imagined I was playing the songs as I would in my piano teacher’s house. That the keyboard was a “wonder” to play and that the sounds that came out were wonderful.
To maximise the effect I memorised my music scores.
And the tutoring carried on for one and a half years up to examination time. I took my exams and I passed with merit. I was officially a pianoforte diploma holder.
At that time, it seemed a normal thing to do (to get my diploma under such circumstances). In retrospect, I wonder how I made it through without thinking of giving up.
Not even once.
I suppose its the passion for music that kept me going. Which is why, although I did not take any more practical examinations after that, I kept reminding myself that I had to maintain my practical standard… I have to.
After all I did come a long way. 
I want to thank my mom for supporting me all the way. And I want to thank my piano teacher who has been brilliant and supportive. And to my best friend who let me practice at her house during the last few weeks prior to my piano exam.
And all this happened back in 1997-1998.
It took me nearly 6 years to put it down in writing. To convince myself that this is something worth writing down.
Ahhh…
I feel relieved.
And I feel stronger now.
by miracle8 at 09:31 pm
Make a miracle happen Permanent Link
